MANILA: Thousands of people were stranded yesterday in flash floods in the Philippine capital amid heavy rains driven by Typhoon Sinlaku.
Afternoon classes were suspended in several areas of metropolitan Manila as floodwater rose to waist-high in some streets.
The National Disaster Coordinating Council said it had not yet received any reports of casualties.
The weather bureau said it was expecting more rains in the capital and northern provinces as the storm moves away from the Philippines.
“Typhoon Sinlaku will continue to enhance the south-west monsoon and bring rains over Luzon and Visayas, particularly the western sections, which may trigger flashfloods and landslides,” it said.
Sinlaku was situated 220 km off the northernmost Philippine town of Basco in Batanes province, 510 km north of Manila, yesterday. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 150 km per hour and gusts of up to 185 km per hour. The typhoon was moving toward Taiwan and Japan.
Meanwhile, a military official said the evacuation of some 200 families from the two villages in Compostela Valley affected by twin landslides over the weekend might take a few days as they can only make the 10-km travel to the next village in the daytime and if the weather was good.
The families from the devastated village of Masara and neighboring village of Mainit in Maco town will be housed at the village hall of Barangay Elizalde and other adjoining villages which have started helping by providing shelter to the evacuees, Maj. Roland Rodil, commander of the 25th Infantry Battalion and in charge of the search and recovery operations, said.
Rodil, speaking to reporters in Camp Aguinaldo by phone, said the residents had been staying at the elementary schools in Masara and Mainit since September 7 when the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources on Tuesday recommended that the villages be completely evacuated.
Liza Mazo, director of the Office of Civil Defense in Compostela Valley, said that according to the MGB, the villages of Masara and Mainit were “high-risk landslide areas and not suitable for habitation.” Mazo said that the landslides were triggered by the saturation of the soil in the mountain as a result of heavy rains. The incessant downpour had “loosened the soil” in the mountain, Mazo said, citing the MGB report. Barangay Masara has a total population of 2,700 while Barangay Mainit has 811. Rodil also denied that he had been designated as the acting village head of Masara after Barangay Captain Jovencio Anquera was killed in the second landslide last Sunday.
